Okay, so i realise that its pretty much horses for courses, but here's my question...

I've been out of orienteering for a good 4 years, but am now getting back into the swing of things, and looking forward I'll be doing more events over the coming months.

At some point I'm going to have to bite the bullet and invest in some O Shoes. I'm a bit out of the loop, so wondered if anyone could take the time to list a few pros and cons of their chosen orienteering shoes? I always used to run in VJ integrators, but I remember that my last two pairs just seemed to fall apart pretty quickly. Inov8 weren't really on the scene when I was orienteering back in the day, and i guess there might be some other brands and models out there that i should consider.

Recently got me a pair of Oroc 340s. Only worn them at a handful of events, but 2 days of use were on the Saunders.

Pros:Cracking grippy sole, especially going straight down slippy crap. (only tested them once on a countour and I slipped a bit, but I think that was more me being a goon)Very comfy, both sole and upper - even after a long hall in the lakes. Based on the roclite but with a tougher upper, they appear to be very durable, but ask me in 12 months time!look good.

The 280s have the same sole but are based more on the Xtallon. My partner wore them on the saunders and we were both chuffed with our choice of shoes. However, being based on the Xtallon upper the 280 may not be quite as durable as the 340, but are more of a racing shoe.

I used to use Innov8's but they gave me blisters. I switched to the Adidas Swoops and haven't changed since. They are more padded than and don't have the hard backed heels that the Innov8's had so it puts less pressure on my knees and doesn't give me blisters. Only downside is that the Innov8's had more grip and studs, but then the grip on the Swoops has been fine for me.

Garnon, wet grass was a nightmare fo me with Swoops - for example at Galloway OMM I went for a 40 yard slide on my back down a wet grassy slope and took out another competitor at the bottom with a 2-footed tackle that would have been a red card in a soccer game

Inov8-induced blisters were a problem with some of claws (roc/mud) as I understand from friends but I have not spoken to anyone who has blister problem with X-talon. I did a 15 K M21E, with 500+m climb, in brand new talons without a single blister (and that took me most of the day!).

I still have a pair of swoops left and a couple of x-talons on the go - the swoops rarely get used these days. I think talon is only 225g so if lite is right On th otherh and swoop is much more cushioned but less grippy in the wet - both good shoes but personally I feel the Xtalon has the edge.

Brand-spankers X-talon 190s are hitting a few stores now, in time for AW10, if you want to loose another 22g per shoe. Alternatively, you could just lay off that 50g bag of crisps and save the same amount in total.Whilst my first pair of Mudclaws did make an initial mess of my heels, they've toughened up now and I don't suffer from blisters - for a little bit of pain in the first 50 miles you get the reward of awesome grip, an d rapid descents, for life!

fell runners don't use dobbed shoes as they previously didn't really know about them - as they used to be made soley by O companies in scandinavia they never really registered on the radar, whereas british companies (Walsh, Inov8) were actually advertised here.However, now dobbed shoes are being made by a british company they're being advertised better here. Accelerate in Sheffield has done most of their Oroc sales to fell runners! (mainly as most of the sheffield O comunity are on a squad and got theirs free ).

Also - fell runners don't encounter brahsings, on which dobs are much better than rubber studs!

Also, during my fell running days I don't remember running over quite as many hazards as in orienteering. I bought a pair of VJ Falcons (with the metal in the studs) after coming a cropper (twice) in the Lakes 5 Tarn Hows event. It was the lateral sliding on things like wet and exposed roots that got me.